Fiction: A Dream of Malice

By

Raminder Paul Singh

The evening was murky and a certain man with a scar was on his way home through a gloomy forest. Suddenly, he found himself distracted by a sudden sharp piercing howl. It was a high pitched noise which eerily resembled a human cry. The man believed in good and ominous omens and that very day his omens signalled him something wicked was going to happen.

Staggering a little, he nevertheless, raised his spirit to face the loud voice. And while clutching the knife from his bag, he moved in its direction. The man with a scar could feel the beat of his heart, racing with a stutter.

Walking through the woods he scrutinized the dark matter around and warily made his way towards a certain loud scream. When he had only gone a few steps ahead, a vigorous jolt forcefully pushed him against some huge tree. The sheer impact of it, the violent brunt of it, his head crashed into the aging tree’s trunk. Knocked unconscious by that blow, it was after a while that he gained his strength, stood up and saw before him a sight which was beyond his belief and understanding.

Before him was standing a grotesquely tall man lacking life’s liveliness. That tall man’s silhouette strangely seemed to resemble a cruelly ravenous animal. Why was it so, he didn’t wish to reason as it was something else about that man which disturbed him the most; it was his vacuous, dim and blank face which was the same face as his own!

The tall man looked straight into his eyes with a gaze that had the power of inflicting irrevocable harm. Accosted with such a familiar fearsome sight, the man with a scar was thrown in a state of desperation; he moved every muscle in his body to grab the knife and attack. But lo! That knife was not there, not in his hand. But in the hand of the strange malicious tall man standing in front of him!

Before the certain man with a scar could react, the tall man shouted hoarsely; hearing that shout of death, the scarred man’s eyes opened wide.

He began to sweat heavily, even shivering with a fitful fit.

Then there was no tall man.

It was only a dream; a ghoulish dream. The same old dream which had kept the man with a scar disturbed for a few years now. He knew then, who the tall man was. It was no more a secret of riddling anxiety for him. He knew it. Who was the tall man in his horrifying dreams; no one else but the evil inside him.

The man with a scar got off his bed; fretfully walked towards the mirror while his heart still pounded against his chest. Then with a meagre smile, he looked at his mirror image. That smile, that weak, vulnerable, sly smile on his face; he knew that smile was evidence to the fact that evil inside him grows and continues to infest like a malignant tumour which is infecting his soul every second.

Such was his evil; a tumor which had entered him through some weakest link and had destroyed his soul in such a way that bad things which happened to others caused him great bliss. Bliss for his evil driven soul.

Raminder Paul Singh

Raminder Paul Singh endearingly known as Rumit is co-founder and partner at RAB Enterprise. Formerly he was a Sr. Engineer – Project and Technical Support at A2Z POWERCOM and at UFL: Ultimate Flexipack Ltd. He pursued engineering from M.B.S College of Engineering and Technology, J&K. Apart from his work, Rumit is a passionate sketch artist, short story writer and occasionally writes ghazals in Urdu language. He believes in the motto – creative hobbies make Life an interesting potpourri of adventure, vibrancy and curious inventions, discoveries and memorable interactions.